With its global scope, it was inevitable that the Second World War would be fought on some battlefields that could become popular tourist destinations during peacetime. One such location is the setting of Escape to Athena, a 1979 British action comedy directed by George Pan Cosmatos. The plot begins in 1944 on a Greek island under German occupation, where Allied POWs, including archaeologist Professor Blake (played by David Niven), are forced to work on an important archaeological site. The POWs have a relatively easy time, thanks to camp commandant Major Otto Hecht (played by Roger Moore), a former Austrian antiques dealer who, with the prisoners’ help, smuggles the most valuable finds to his sister in Switzerland. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of a nearby village have a much harder time thanks to the SS, who want to capture Zeno (played by Telly Savalas), a former monk who, with the help of Eleana (played by Claudia Cardinale), his girlfriend and madam of the local brothel, runs a resistance network. Zeno receives information about an upcoming Allied invasion just as two captured USO entertainers – showgirl and accomplished swimmer Dottie Del Mar (played by Stefanie Powers) and stand‑up comic Charlie Dane (played by Elliott Gould) – arrive at the camp. Hecht is attracted to the glamorous Dottie, which Charlie uses to befriend Hecht and even start thinking about joining his scheme related to a priceless treasure rumoured to be held in a nearby monastery.
George Pan Cosmatos obviously modelled his film on the WW2 action classic The Guns of Navarone. Both films were shot on the island of Rhodes and both feature David Niven in a major role. However, it isn’t exactly clear whether Escape to Athena should be viewed as an homage or a parody. The problem lies mostly in the confusing script by Edward Anhalt and Richard S. Lochte, which, especially in the first part, has trouble maintaining a coherent tone – farcical situations in the camp switch too quickly to serious and tragic events in the village, where the SS abuse and murder innocent civilians. Another issue for the film could be the casting – 1970s pop star Sonny Bono (these days best known as Cher’s husband) isn’t very convincing in the role of an Italian cook. Roger Moore, then at the height of his James Bond fame, obviously tried something different in the role of an anti‑hero, but his attempts to make Hecht both charming and menacing don’t always work, and his scenes with Stefanie Powers might make some viewers, accustomed to modern #MeToo standards of relationships, cringe. Although the presence of Elliott Gould, whose character seems somewhat out of place in a WW2 action film, might look like miscasting, it is exactly what Escape to Athena needed – a magnificent comic relief that, just like Donald Sutherland’s Oddball in Kelly’s Heroes, another popular WW2 film in a similar tone, prevents the audience from taking the film too seriously.
Action film fans, on the other hand, won’t have much reason to complain. Cosmatos, who would later become famous for directing First Blood Part II, one of the most iconic and influential 1980s action films, shows very little restraint in packing as many gunfights and pyrotechnic displays into the film as possible. This is especially the case in the second half, when he is unburdened by plot and character exposition. That allows him to include scenes that might have belonged in different films – a long and impressive motorcycle chase that represents some of the finest stunt work in the history of cinema; a scantily clad Stefanie Powers fighting German frogmen who resemble B‑movie monsters; and, finally, a showdown in a German base with uniforms and iconography that look more at home in Star Wars than in WW2. Escape to Athena nevertheless compensates for its lack of depth with attractive Greek locations captured by the famous cinematographer Lewis Gilbert, as well as a Greek‑themed soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin, and as such can be recommended even to audiences that would otherwise have problems with films associating the Second World War with fun.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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